Product Description

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

A Tale of Two Cities begins on a muddy English road in an atmosphere charged with mystery and drama, and it ends in the Paris of the French Revolution with one of the most famous acts of self-sacrifice in literature. In between lies one of Charles Dickens’s most exciting books– a historical novel that, generation after generation, has given readers access to the profound human dramas that lie behind cataclysmic social and political events.

Famous for the character of Sydney Carton, who sacrifices himself upon the guillotine–“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”–the novel is also a powerful study of crowd psychology and the dark emotions aroused by the Revolution, and is illuminated by Dickens’s lively comedy.

This edition reprints the original Everyman introduction by G. K. Chesterton and includes sixteen illustrations by Phiz.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5094186 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-30
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .64" h x 5.22" w x 7.48" l, .21 pounds
• Binding: MP3 CD

Review

"I've come to prefer Oxford's editions of my texts because of the usefulness of the explanatory notes and above all the inclusion of vital contextual information about publishing practices (serialization dates, etc.) and historical background that are essential to my nethod of instruction."--Prof. Martha Holmes, Univ. of Colorado

About the Author
Charles Dickens was born in Landport in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812. Sent to work in a blacking factory at the age of twelve, after his Navy Pay Office clerk father was imprisoned for debt, Dickens’s memories of this unhappy period haunted him throughout his life and influenced much of his writing. After stints as a clerk and a shorthand reporter in the law courts, Dickens became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the Morning Chronicle until the huge success of his first books enabled him to become a full-time author. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870, leaving his last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Charles Dickens was published in 1990 to enormous critical acclaim. He has also written another major biography, T.S. Eliot, which was awarded the 1984 Whitbread Prize and was joint winner of the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award. Peter Ackroyd’s novels include The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde, Milton in America, Chatterton, The Clerkenwell Tales and The Fall of Troy and his non-fiction works include Ezra Pound and his World, Chaucer and London: The Biography, among others. His most recent biography is Poe: A Life Cut Short.